Lampshade designs

Here are the designs I submitted to Quincy Lampshades for their new range.

The brief had a specific colour palette but Ruth was looking for a range of patterns from geometric to floral to quirky designs.

I found this a really fun project to do; the colour palette is fresh and attractive, and the freedom that came with the trends/themes meant I could really experiment and be quite playful with my ideas. 

Would love to hear what you think!

There were so many brilliant submissions and I'd like to congratulate those that were chosen! 

I am excited to see the final collection :) 

Sarah x 

New Inspiration, New colours, New designs!

I wanted to share with you my latest creations, inspired by gorgeous designs from some of my favourite design companies.

I have been very busy lately with my part time waitressing job and working on my 2014 calendar illustrations, but in an evening I try to make time for a spot of designing when I can.

The moodboard above shows my colour inspiration; a bright, sophisticated and fun palette.

Initially inspired by the image of the chairs, I set about trying to find current textile designs using this palette and found Harlequin, Villa Nova and Nina Campbell had produced a number of designs in similar colour ways in research collected in Chelsea Harbour Design Centre and Osborne & Little on Kings Road, London.

 Image copyright 2013 Belladonna Digital Imaging

I even hinted at this colour palette in one of my designs for Belladonna - the 'Geo Triangle' pattern above!

It is a fairly different colour palette for me; my past projects have used a lot of neutral tones and blues, but during my trip to Australia I was definitely inspired by my beautiful surroundings and my visit to the show homes.

I have become a lot more experimental and playful with colour and feel my work is definitely benefitting from it. I think it is very important as a designer to be versatile and up for a challenge.

Variety is the spice of life, as they say!! 

Images copyright 2013 Sarah Fleming

What do you think? 

Do you like the new, brighter designs?

Sarah x

Summer colours!

Today the sun is out and I am feeling very cheery and excitable!

I thought I would share some colour inspiration to reflect my happy mood and this beautiful weather to hopefully get you all upbeat too :)

 Images courtesy of :

Design Seeds

an amazing source for colour inspiration

Sian Elin

a designer whose bright and beautiful work I adore

Samantha Jayne Wood

a very talented surface pattern design graduate

Belladonna Digital Imaging

an amazing digital print company whom I was lucky enough to design for

& 

My very own 'Scissors' design :)

Hope this has brightened up your day and left you feeling inspired!

Sarah x 

Aussie Interiors

As most of you will already know, in February this year I was lucky enough to spend an amazing 4 weeks interning in Australia! 

Whilst there, I visited a few show homes to gain a little more insight into typical Australian home decor and current interior trends for primary research in helping me with designing the collections for Belladonna Digital Imaging. 

Once I could prize myself away from the stunning gardens with outside pools, I got to explore some gorgeous new homes and was so surprised at some of the beautiful interiors that I found.

I have to say, I was expecting white walls and fairly plain, clean interior decoration but what I discovered was some great introduction of pattern and colour in areas. 

Some walls were kept white as I had anticipated, but art or framed pictures were used on the walls for added colour and decoration.
However these wallpapered feature walls that I found were an absolute delight! 

Not just beautiful florals in gorgeous colour palettes, but quirky cityscape designs and stylised, arty patterns too...

As walls were kept plain in most areas, pattern and colour were brought in with the used of scatter cushions, upholstered sofas, rugs and curtains.

 Though the colours may not be particularly as 'out there' or as bold as we may see in European interior textiles, I don't feel that it is needed as the patterns speak for themselves. 

They are very much on trend and contemporary designs, using the Ikat style which is very much on trend at the moment, as well as stripes and inky, textural patterns which never seem to go out of fashion!

I loved all of the fresh, cool colour palettes that I came across. 

The interiors designers for these show homes did an amazing job!

I personally really like the patterns and colour palettes used and feel that these beautiful Australian homes don't need to be filled with brash colours and over the top patterns. Sometimes simple and sophisticated is best, especially living in such a hot climate; having a cool, calming house to come home to is perfect! 

 I hope you have found these images and my discoveries as inspiring as I did!

You can see how I used this inspiration and the designs that I produced for Australian company Belladonna Digital Imaging here.

Sarah x



NB: I do not own the rights to any of the designs shown in this post